New Wine Bar Downtown!

By Teresa Malone ~ amateurEpicurean.com, on October 24th, 2011

Saturday, my husband and I were out and about downtown, celebrating our anniversary. In the shadow of the flagpole, we stumbled upon the Winemaker’s Pourhouse, a wine bar that specializes in wine and food pairings. Now the best part about this wine bar is that it features Livermore Valley wines ONLY! As we peeked into the open door, we saw warm, yet rustic, Italian countryside inspired décor with a quaint back patio. After we were immediately and warmly greeted by one of the co-owners, Kelly McFarland, we decided to go sit out back. As luck would have it, one of our favorite local musicians, Roger Kardinal, showed up just minutes later to play a set. Needless to say, as we settled in, we were eager to learn what this new entry to the Livermore wine scene had to offer!

After looking at the menu we decided to try one of the flights, and being that we were celebrating, we decided to splurge on the First Class Flight. This flight featured the 2007 Steven Kent Cabernet Sauvignon Ghielmetti Vineyards Livermore Valley; BoaVentura De Caires Winery Maroon Label Cabernet Sauvignon; and the En Garde 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain, Napa. We were a bit hungry and decided we could also use a little nosh to go with our wines, so we ordered the spinach salad and the Basil Corn Cakes, which paired nicely.

As expected, the Steven Kent and BoaVentura wines did not disappoint. Both were bold yet incredibly smooth on the finish. The surprise of the evening was the appropriately named En Garde, which following the Boa Cab, almost slaps you in the face and shouts, “Pay attention to me!” As this wine continued to sit in the glass, it opened up further to reveal its depth and character.

While we were waiting for our wine, Kelly introduced herself, and explained that the Pourhouse has been in soft opening for about two weeks and that their philosophy is to feature only Livermore wines. Eventually they would like to have the food and wines paired up on the menu. In doing so, the wine and food menus will be continually evolving to reflect what is available and in season.

I am really excited to see how the Pourhouse continues to grow and develop with its wine and food pairings and I recommend that you too go downtown to check it out!